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Gov. Strong'^s Calumniator Reproved. 



IN A 



RETIEW 



OF A 



DEMOCRATIC PAMPHLET 



ENTITLED, 



REMARKS ON THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH. 



^Kv\ Ki^'vy-e^W 



*'Lorsque la ralson, les talens, les inoeurs, He ce jeune hnmme atirout acquis un peu de 
naaturite, il sentirt I'extreme obligation quil vous aura de I'avou corrige." — VoLTAins. 

When this yc ng man's talents, reason and manners shall have been a littl« more matured, he 
will acknowledge the obligation he is under to you tor having corrected him. 

BY 

NO BEL-ESPRIT. 



BOSTON: ^^i^^^ 

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE REPERTORY AND DAILY ADVERTISER. 

W. W. CLAFP, FRlJyTER. 
1814. 






lie 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

PRESIDEN'T ADAMS^ in his early and best writings demonstrat- 
ed^ that the greatest danger to our Republican Institutions, arose 
from their tendency to DEMOCRACY. The experience of thirty 
years has shewn, that if he had the frailties of a man, he had the spirit 
of a Prophet. We have seen in succession some of the best, and 
wisest men compelled either from disgust, or a want of deserved con- 
fidence on the part of the people, to quit the care of our public affair s^ 
and we have seen them pass into the hands of those who have no other 
Qualification than the despicable art of flattering the people. Power 
thus obtained has been used fas you would expect it would be J solely 
for the purpose of its own preservation. The nation has been dis- 
graced and impoverished, and but for the interference of Divine 
Providence, would soon have been ruined. Events entirely out of 
their controul, have compelled our government to abandon their worst 
measures and to acknowledge the correctness of the opinion of their 
opponents. The temptation offered by our administration which has 
made an absolute devotion to its views, the indispensable pre-requis- 
ite to off.ce, has a strong tendency to debauch the principles of 
the amhitious, while their measures by impoverishing the country 
have as it were compelled them to have recourse to the government for 
their future success. 

In some States, this has bred up a mongrel race who have assumed 
the character of a third party, because the transition is more easy 
and less violent from such a party to the ranks of administration. 

In MASSACHUSETTS, we have hitherto succeeded in keeping 
up the dcfinit lines of distinction betxveen true republicans, and those 
who under that sacred appellation xvould undermine the foundation of 
society. 

T n I s has been effected principally by compelling every man to 
cfwose his side, and by making no compromise with wavering ambition. 

If men find, they must choose between correct principles, and open 
Democratic doctrines, if by apostatizing they must forfeit the respect, 
confidence, and friendship of the wise, and good, and associate with 
the Gerry's, the Austin^s, and the Holmks' — Many of them 
xvill be deterred from inaking so great a sacrifice. 

These considerations together with a wish to shew, that the 
assailant of Governor Stiioncj, is not altogether the fittest man to be 
consulted as a politician have induced us to make the following Re- 
marks. 

Twv. recent ELECTIONS have shexvn that MASSACHU- 
SETTS does not furnisn food for a third party. The union of the 
greatest talents, and the greatest wealth, with great prete?itions 
'of moderation, could only effect 75 or 80 votes in the capital, A 
greater number couli easily be bought — in other countries. 



A 



4^ 



V3f 



Review J <^c» 



JVo. I. 



*• Locns est et pluribus umbris " .Iuvevai, 

*" There »>i-e places for many hangers on." The 
i»u/)i7followeth the Muster. 

We sljould not have darefl to sugsiest 
that a writer of sucli high preteiisious as 
our author, who settles the character of 
Governeur Stroug as soon as Lord El- 
lenborough would fix the fate of a pick- 
pocket, 

*' Who deals damnation round the land, 
*' On ull he deems his foes" 

ever had a madei; if he had not told us so 
himself. We should rather have thought 
him a heaveri-taugiit, heaven inspired gen- 
ius, that would have disdained to follow 
the footsteps of any master any more than 
in the path of common sense. To vulgar 
readers we must apologise for introducing 
a latin motto. The writer with whom we 
are about to leason, is reputed a scholar, 
and he would make but little account of 
a reviewer who did not understand Latin. 
As our object is to convince, as well as to 
confute, we thought it best to give some 
idea of oiix attainments, and with our au- 
thor a little Latin seems to be deemed a 
great attainment. We do not, however, 
aim at rivalling this bel-esprit, for we a- 
gree with an admirable French saying, 
" II y a de beaux esprits qui n'ont pas le 
sens commun." — Your men of wit and 
learning often have every species of sense 
bui what is useful. We are persuaded, 
before w^e have done with our young au- 
tlwr, that every body will perceive, that 
he has at least f/i?* claim to the character 
of a bel-esprit. 

It is always immaterial who the author 
of a political work is, and where it is 
pernicious in its tendency, it is best, that 
we should remain in ignorance. It would 
seem, however, that the writer had a great 
desire to be kaowo. A copy hag beeo 



left at the Athenaeum, endorsed " by the, 
author^'' and tbe following lines together 
with internal evidence, excite very strong 
suspicions, ihat it is some young mau 
whose mind iias been poisoned by the po- 
litical prf jiidices, and encouraged by the 
successfid example of his master. 

" Le MaUre, qui jirit soin d'intruirc ma jeuness^ 
Ne m':i jamais apprisde faire uwe bassesse." 

" The master who took the pains of in- 
structing my youth, never taught me to 
commit a base deed." He would have 
been a very singular master, if he had. — 
We shall see hereafter what his master 
did teach him, and that he has been a very 
apt scholar. Who this master is, we are 
not told, butfrom the utter contempt which 
the pupil discovers for the opinions of oth- 
ers, from the conceited <lisplay of his 
reading, from the bitter sarcastic spirit 
which is intimately mingled with every 
part of this pamphlet, and from the hardi- 
hood of bold assertion which is te be met 
with in it, we think it would make a very 
good match for Mr. J. Q. Adams's re- 
view of Ai.os's works, from which its 
worst sentiments secnj to be taken, with 
the infusion of a little fresh gall to reader 
the dratight more bitter. 

This writer, it would seem, from his 
prefatory remarks, is extremely sensible 
to any censure passed upon Lis essays, 
which, however well deserved, he consid- 
ers as abuse. 

What special privilege this gentleraart 
is entitled to, of shooting his poisoned ar- 
rows into eveiy crov/d he sees, and even 
occasionally of taking deliberate aim at 
the unofFendmg vietims of his spleen, and 
yet of being free from that just animad- 
version which ought always to fall on ca- 
lumuiators, let the public decide. 



This we shall not merely say of this 
panij,>hlei, but prove ; that never perhaps 
were ihcre found, in any equal number of 
pages, the marks of gre^^ter conceit, « op- 
ter.pl for the opinions, anil disregard of 
the feelings of good and venerable men. 
It would indeed seem as if the whole ef- 
fort of the author's mind was, to see Ijow 
many established principles he could at- 
tack, how much contempt and sarcasm he 
could discover, how muny ill-deserved re- 
proaches he couM brin^ iigainst persons 
who ceilaiiily have n-^ver iiijiired him, 
and of whom (the best apology you could 
make for him would be) he knew nolh- 
ing ; for this would betheonl> one which 
could save him from the reputation of 
wilful cakimtiy. 

It is a painful task to shpw, that a 
young man of so much promise may, if he 
perseveres in such writings, prove as great 
a mischief as he mi<;hl have been a bles- 
sing to society ; J'hat the genius and 
learning which might have added to the 
dignity and secuiitj of the state, may be 
cmi)loyed in its dcraolilion. But painful 
as ii is, it must be ptrfornied. It is the 
only securiiy we have for the preservati«n 
of the few blessings we have left. W hat ! 
shnl! t'lie thousand minor moral offences 
against ihe peace and well being of so- 
ciety, call forth the eloquence of the 
moralist and divine, and shall principles 
•which tend to its utter destruction pass 
unnoticed ? It is with regret, that we see 
such a mind, like a fair and healthy flow- 
er, blasted just before it expanded, by 
the pernicious and poisonous mildew of a 
miscalculatifjg ambition. Let us now 
give one or two examples to shew that 
our expre;." ions as to this pamphlet are 
not too strong, When originally publish- 
ed in the Patriot, the following quotation 
from Taciius was directly applied to the 
agpd and venerable Strong: — •' Liberty 
and other specious names are often used as 
pretexts ; and every man who desires to 
obtain tvrannical power affects to do i) 
under the name of Liberty." 

Again. "^ The projp.ct of separation is 
openly avowed. The Senate chamber 
and House l»ave rung with tfiis treasona- 
ble note. It is even intimated in the 
Govprnor's Speech.*' As this is untrue 
we need not say it is cruel and slander- 
ous. Again, speaking of the Governor's 
Speech, he says, " It was issued pretty 



soon after the Prince Regent's Manifesto 
was received here, and was nearly ol the 
same length. We never took the trouble 
to compare them, but the impression we 
received from reading the Governor's 
was, that a large proportion of it was cofi- 
led verbatim irom the Prince Regent's." 

We lorbear to remark on the coarse- 
ness and vulgarity of this abuse. We 
suspect from it the school in which he was 
brought up. We knew a great foreign 
minister who went from writing lampoons 
on a distinguished democrat, to a shamefull 
libel on the deceased Ames, while his im- 
n)ortal spirit was still on its flight to hea- 
ven. AVe ask, did this gentleman believe 
that one sentence in the Governor's Spee- 
ch was coped verbatim from the Piince 
RegcnVs manifesto ? We wish we could 
charitably view this in any other light 
than as a gross libel. This writer adds, 
•* Your Excellency has shewn your?/- 
sxial judgment in making }our solemn 
communication to the Legislature the ve- 
hicle o\' party feelings and opinions." 

It would seem to be unreasonable after 
these dreadlul examples of an unbridled 
tongue, il this gentleman should complain 
of abuse. Yet so consistent is he, as to 
be so deeply wounded at a suggestion that 
" he had read tnore than he thought, and 
that he had entered the road of false am- 
bition" from which he was kindly advised 
to turn back, that he has made various at- 
tacks on a writer who he fancied gave him 
that friendly advice. 

Among other efforts our young writer, 
after saying with the modeaty of his sup- 
posed master, that a man who is not con- 
vinced by his arguments, must be proof a- 
gaiast all further attempts in prose, soars 
into the regions of poetry and wit, and 
treats us with nearly one hin.dred lines 
of blank verse, which, from the following 
specimen, our readers will think too dull 
if intended to be burlesque, and too bur- 
lesque if intended to be d'jll. In a deli- 
cate and very gentlemanly manner they 
are applied to the pirate, Dalton. 

Joy to ttioe Dalton, tliy re'cRse is come ; 
I'm glad tlie President had grace cnoiie;h 
To pardon thee at last. Thy crime. I ween 
Was isnorance not malicp : head not heart 
AVas wanting to thee : Thou hadst as good a 

will 
As any Prince or potentate of them aVI 
To thieve on other's earnings; but the manner- 
Failed tliee — Things have chang'd since ShakS? 

peai-e's time. 



There's virtue in a name. A Pirat*. Fie «n't, 
Jielligerentu ii«e name. 

For what tlo you thiuk these and twen- 
ty equally elegant lines were written ? 
To ridicule one sentence ia a pamphlet 
lorjg since lorgotten, entitled Madison's 
war. The writer however should have 
said that he mutilated those lines and ap- 
plied them to poor L ulton. The original 
verses we may suppose, were in true bur- 
lesque, and were applied to ^ young schol- 
ar. 

" Our pity, gentle yoxtli awaits thee ; 

For whether from the Pierian fount, a shallow 
draught ; 

Or airy hopes dissalv'd, thy reason hath disturh'd. 

We know not. But sure some Gnome malevo- 
lent 

Hath fir'd thy youthf*! brain : Else why SHch 
strange 

Mishapen fantasies, such hideous spectres rais'd 

Where to the sound and healthful eye of truth 
no forms appear ? 

" Much learning makes thee mad" or else per- 
chance 

Too little; and too great conceit of that thou 

han. 
Thy fault is vanity not malice, and thy defect 
In head not heart* 

Thou hast as good a will 
As any prince or minister of them all 
To hold a place of note — but the manner- 
Fails thee. 

There are tliose we know who say 
"let it alooe. It is too dull to do much 
mischiet. Austin and Waterhouse with 
the populace will beat him every day." 

We grant it can do but little mischief 
with common readers, because they can- 
not comprehend it, oor with men of ma- 
ture sense, because they see its sophomo- 
rical fallacies. But it is calculated to en- 
trap your ball-fledged scholars, who, not 
ha\ ing strength or courage to trust their 
own wings, are willing to be borne along 
br one v ho takes so lofty, or so Ion a 
fli-ht, and who exhibits such a satisfied air 
of his own strength and agility. It is en- 
tirely adapted to delude weak minds by 
its iiriposing audacity. 

We mean nut to review it artificially 
and according to the rides, hut to detect 
80me of iis fallacies, fo expose the igno- 
rance of this learned scholar, and so^nie- 
times to reprove his rashness. 

We shall first see how j.-^ls two friends 
■whom he praises, Adams and Dexier are 
to be reconciled, when the latter denoun- 
ces the measures of the fornjer as the most 
base and unprincipled ever adopted. This 
we shall prove. We hope not to set these 
geDtlemcB at loggerheads. 



2dly. Make a collection of all his „q, 
founded assertions and iusinuatieus and 
mistakes, as to matters of fact. 

3dly. Atiswer his reasoning if we carj 
lind it out. We almost despair of con- 
vincing him. His disease seems to be 
loo deL'[>ly seated, l-nt we are persuad- 
ed every body who has read his pamphlet 
will be convinced that he has been nn- 
giiarde<l and ungrateful towards men to 
V, h' > ^'f and we are inrlelited for the pre- 
servation of libcity, religion, and literati r . 

J\o. 2. 

" Le maitre qui a ptis soiii (rinntrinre majeu- 
" JVf m'ujamai.'i appiix de faiie une bass'esse." 

It is nnt ourdcMgn to prove, that the 
master of om author ever taught him 
to comnrjit a biite action, but to ihow 
what the Hoofiurab e Samuel Dexrer, 
E-qu're, hai said of one of his mabier's 
ov^N actions. 

It will not be admitted by our author, 
that his ma^tet was a weak, ignorant, in- 
capable man ; that he did not understand 
the conititution, and the right and in- 
terests of the people who e'ected him to 
support those interests. This would be 
to defend his principles and integrity at 
the expense of his understanding. 

Upon a question of so vital a nature 
as that of the right of Congress to inter- 
dict and destroy all the commercial in- 
terests of New- England, it is not to be 
presumed, that Mr. Adams did not ex- 
ert all the powsrs®f his mind, eniichedg 
as our author must admit, with much an- 
cient and modern learning. 

Weaknessor ignorance cannot be im- 
puted to him, however some of us may 
doubt the effeqt of his prejudices. 

When the embargo in 1808 was pro- 
posed, a measure as much worse than 
the existing one as possible, because it 
was nvithnui limitavicn, and therefore 
perpetual, (unless all the three blanches 
of the government should concur in its 
repeal,) the Hon John Quincy Adams 
not only voted for it, but gave it, his 
most ardent, and slavish support. 

Of this measure, the Hon. Mr. Dexter 
says, " that it overleaps the constitu- 
" tion, 13 ineffectual, tends to destroy 
" the rights and interests of the commer- 
" cial stales, promotes perjury andvice. 



6 



f* and alms a fatal blow at the prospcr- 
•'ity of the country." 

To such an act Mr. Adams gave his 
a«.sent, and to him alone probably we 
owQfsall the evils which have followed 
from this restrictive system ; for had he 
supported the rights and interests of the 
people who elected him, it is very prob- 
able that act would never have passed. 

It would seem to follow then, either 
that Mr. Dexter's censures of this act 
aie unfounded, or that Mr. Adams did 
not understand the constitution, and the 
horrible effects ascribed to this act by 
Mr, Dexter ; or else, that undei standing 
them, he basely agreed to tke passage of 
such an act. 

We are indifferent which side of the 
<juestion our author will take. Either 
Mr. Adams does not understand the 
constitution, or Mr. Dexter misapprehend' 
ed its provisions, or Mr. Adaois acted a 
base and ivickeil part. 

We do not choose to decide between so 
great men. Yet our young author recom- 
mends them both to our confidence and 
respect. 

If cither of them is mistaken on so 
fundamental a. point \ if either of them is 
capable either of violating the constitu- 
tion, destroying the rights, and aiming 
a fatal blow at the liberties of the peo- 
ple,he is unworthy of our confidence,Hnd 
so is every man brought up in his princi- 
ples. On the other hand, if these acts 
are improperly arraigned, if such char- 
ges against them are unffnrnded, the man 
who makes them is unworthy of our con- 
fidence, but the author was wrong in 
recommending him to our suffrages as 
he has most explicitly done. 

This however, is not the ivorst side of 
this picture. Our author himself defends 
the embargo, as just, consti utional, and 
legal. Mr Dexter condemns it as the re- 
sult of folly, and wickedness, and tyran- 
ny. — Now either Mr. Dexter was honest 
in this denunciation, or he was not, 

1( honest then he must in the opinion 
of our author and of Mr. Adams, be weak 
and unfit to manage public affairs, be- 
cause they hoth treat the right to lay an 
Embargo, as unquestionable, and sneer 
at the opposition to it,as weak and wicked. 

If Mr. Dexter was not sincere in his op- 
positioa to it, he must be unprincipled. 



Let the author settle this point between 
his two honorable friends. 

For ourselves t we have no hesitation 
to say, that we think Mr. Dexter, much 
the most qualified judge He is a much 
greater man than our author or his mas- 
ter-. He is a much more profound law- 
yer. He may not be so good a judge of 
a modern novel, or a work of one of the 
German literati, but he is better acquaint- 
with our constitution and laws. 

He is a more profound reasoner than 
either of them, and he has had 20 years 
more experience and study on queitions 
of this sort. As to our author, wc 
doubt whether he knows much about the 
constitution of our country, and he is 
one of the last men who would be select- 
ed to decide upon a great legal and 
constitutional question. We say this 
merely from the internal evidence which 
his pamphlet afford- of the rawness, and 
superficiality of his knowledge. 

Mr. Dexter's opinion, upon the un- 
constitutionality of the Embargo on 
which he has thought much,and reason- 
ed often, is of great weight. It C' nforms 
to that of all ihe honest men of New- 
England, who are capable of forming a 
judgment. 

Our author must therefore either a« 
gree, that Mr. Adams and himself do not 
understand the constitution, or that Mr. 
Dexter, who h»s had so much more 
time to examine it than they have had, 
is a weak or a wicked ma.n for uttering 
such sestiments against that act. 

Again.— Suppose Mr. I'cxter is a poor 
lawyer, and does not understand the 
constitution and laws as well as our au- 
thor and Mr. Adams, who have never 
had half the opportunity of studying 
them ; and suppose that inestimable act 
called the Embargo, is as wise and con- 
stitutional as the author contends, yet 
when it wasfrst introduced, as it deep- 
ly affec'ed our dearest interests, it deserv- 
ed a discussion ; Mr. Adams,representlng 
the most commercial slate, was the spe- 
cial guardian of its interests, and what- 
ever might h.^ve been his private op'nion, 
he was bound to deliberate^ and weigh its 
possible effects. 

Yet we know, that when that act 
passed through the Senate in 24 hours, 
Mr. Adams declared, " that at the PiSS' 



rbstfT recommended the measure he 
tuoull not deliberate. 

This sentiment in ancient Rome, even 
«uder the Caesars, woald have been pro- 
nounced base. 

He was sent there to deliberate. The 
opinion of the President ought to have 
had ni? effect on his judgment. It was 
a desertion of our rights and interests 
for which he received an earlyv. tee 
early compensation. Our author may 
defend him if he pleases. The number 
of apost ites may increase so as to dimiri' 
ish the odium of such conduct. But if 
our posterity should ever become more 
pure, or if an independent historian 
should arise to hand down the events 
of the present day, to an unlmpassioned 
race who may succeed us, they will say, 
that whatever Mr. Adams's instructions 
to his pupils may have been, his example 
was most pernicious. 

We have then shewn, that Mr. Dexter, 
whom our author praises often, and re- 
commends to our support, condemns as 
the basest and most wicked acts those 
very measures which our author ap- 
proves, and which Mr. Adams not only 
supported but supported in language 
unbecoming a ireeman. 

We have one other case to cite a* to 
the honourable or base manner in which 
Mr. Adams by example brought up his 
pupils. We give it no character, let 
the people decide. 

A certain Hon. John Smith was sup- 
posed lo be implicated in Burr's con- 
spiracy. For our argument we shall 
suppose that he was justly charge<# — 
We practice, though we do not expect 
frankness, in return. 

Still by the laws of the land, by Mag*. 
na Charta, by the principles of eternal 
justice, every man is to be presumed in- 
nocent until he h proved guilty. 

It was impossible to convict Smith. — 
The evidence was weak. A Jury could 
not be trusted. The President got up a 
supple committee in the Senate to con- 
vict him " a la mode de France, par ac- 
clamation " The Hon. Mr. Adams was 
on this commirtee. He drew up a re- 
port declaring this man guilty, and ex- 
pelling him from the Senate. All men 
were shocked at the profligacy of this re- 
port. This common lawyer, this man 
who had attacked Jefferson and support- 



ed Burke against Paine's rights of man, 
sneered at the Judiciary," the curtain of 
artificial forms,and the snail like pace of 
the common law" — He proposed a rev- 
olutionary trial and conviction. Even 
the Senate, then wholly under Presiden- 
tial influence, so trembled at tke expres- 
sion of public sentiment, that they re- 
jected Adams's report. Yet we are 
now told that this instructor, • ne m'a 
Jamais appris defaire une bassesse.** 

J\^o. 3. 

" The whole merit of it (the project 
of separation) belongs to a faction of 
the Federal party, powerful neither in 
numbers nor talents, perhaps not more 
extensive than the exclusive six hundred 
of Mr. Ames, b ;t who contrive by in- 
trigue and art, by virtue of former ser- 
vices, and by keeping the people in igno- 
rance of their real views, to wield at will 
the Legislature of Massachusetts. The 
distinction between the Federalists and 
the Junto is perfectly well known in 
town and country." This most dis- 
graceful passage, as it is the pith of the 
whole pamphlet, shall engage at this 
time our exclusive attention. We shall 
not stop to comment on its puerile in- 
consistencies. 

That a faction, powerful neither in 
number or talents, should be able to 
wield at will the Legislature of Massa- 
chusetts, would appear to an unlettered 
mind somewhat stiange. That this fac- 
tion should do it by concealing their views 
from ihe Legislature, while it seems the 
distinction between them znd federalists is 
PE ;fectly well known both in town 
and country, is certainly one of those 
singular cases which would require an- 
other pamphlet to explain. 

That the Legislature, selected gene- 
rally fiom the people for their talents 
and virtues, should be so weak as to be 
led by any Junto, is somewhat of 
a reproach on a free form of gov- 
ernment ; but that knowing the d'n- 
iiucuon perfectly well between the ?reaC 
body of Federalists, and these wicked 
leaders, they should still suffer them to 
wield them at will, is most assuredly aa 
anomaly in the history of mankind. 
Surely such a Legislature cannot boast 
of their reason as a faculty to dUtia- 
guiih thsm from the biute. 



8 



If the above calumny on some por- 
tion, indefinite, undcbcribed portion of 
the Federal party, had ihe merit of nov- 
elty, we should then only say of it that 
it was untiue, mean, and malicious ; 
but as it hai been repeated by Duane 
and Austin more than five thousand 
times ; as it formed the whoie web and 
warp of Sallust, out ^tulhor's im'Ticdi- 
ate predecessor in Patriot calumny, we 
inust say that it is also weak. 

The speeches .nd calumnies of Caiu9 
and Tiberius Gtacchus, of Mark Anto- 
ny, and Clodiui, are not preserved, but 
I have no doubt they talked then of a 
faction, and denounced Cato, Cicero 
and Atticus, as our author does Strong, 
Ames and Cabot, as a Junto powerful 
neither in numbers or talents. 

Our author ha? accused Gov. Stiong 
of copying the Prince Regent's Manifesto ; 
we shall now shew that our author made 
pretty free use of Adams's review of 
Ames's works. 

" Ii is a melancholy contemplation of 
human nature (says the tender-hearted 
John Q. Adams) to see a mind so rich- 
ly cultiv :ted as that of Mr. Ames, sour 
ed and exasperated into the very rav- 
ings of a bedlamite. But the apology 
that is due to him is not equally the 
right of others. There axe those who, 
without believing one word of this po- 
litical creed, are as eager for its propa- 
gation as he was ; Verily they expect their 
REWARD. If they can fill the whole 
people with madness like that of the 
royal fox, if they can fill the brains of 
the whole nation with a fancy that we 
have all been transformed into the vil- 
est of the biute creation, save only the 
choice spirits amounting to at most six 
hundred, the next step follows of course. 
Thg porcelain must rule over the earth- 
em ware. The multitude must put 
themselves bound hand and foot into 
the custody of the lynx eyed seraphic souls 
of the six hundred, and then all must 
go and squat together for protection un- 
der the hundred heads of the British 
Bfiareus." /Jdams. 

We can assure the readers, that the 
above is not from the pen of Clough, or 
Austin, or Tom Webb, but of the Hon. 
JohnQ. Adams, late Professor of Ora- 



tory, "qui re m'a jamais appris a faire 
une bassesse." 

It is one of the simplest, most tempt- 
ing, at the same time that it is the basest 
o^aj of rising to power and place in a 
free government, to excite the jealousy 
of thepeople against their best friends. 
Tht modesty of leal worth, the aversion 
to the disgraceful contentions ef party, 
naturally incline the best men to seek 
retirement. In their domestic circle 
they find a solace, and some relief from 
the anxiety which they teel when they 
see the public affairs ill-administered, 
and pubiic liberty endangered. 

When a man wishes to excite the pop- 
ular jealousy, he deals in general crim- 
inations. The more obscui e and con- 
fused, the more room for the imagina- 
tion, and the less liable is the author of 
such calumnies to be detected. Wc 
however ask, Who are these artful, in- 
triguing men of whom Mr. Adams 
speaks, but of whom his pupil could 
know nothing but from him ? Personally 
no pupil of Mr. Adams could have been 
admitted to the confidence or friendship 
of every man who loved or revered Mr. 
/imes. The spectres vanish as soon as 
you oblige men to name these magicians 
who direct our public affairs. 

This gentleman's predecessors in cal- 
umny have, however, named Strong 
Bnd Cabet, and Ame'- and Pardons. 

Men can hardly be presumed to take 
an active part in public affairs, without 
motives. Of the motives of men we 
must decide solely by theit conduct. 

<ff there were any men, bcioved, es- 
teemed, re pecied above others in this 
stare, they were the men I have named- 
If the e were n-jen who had influen e a- 
rising from a conviction of their talents 
and virtties, the^e were the men. If in 
short there was any foundation for the 
opinioo, (which we doubt) that any 
particular men had more influence on 
public opinion than other able ones, I pre- 
sume the public would have agreed that 
those were ef the tinmber, and this mere- 
ly because if any men deserved public 
confidence, they did. 

Now let us compare the conduct of 
these men with Mr, John Quincy Ad- 
ams's. I do not remember one instance 







in which either of them obtained an of- 
fice for one of his family. One of 
them, the Governour, has served the 
public, for 30 years ; for twenty of them 
he receivefi only the compensation of a 
legislator, and his whole receipts from 
the public, are but one sixth of the sum 
received by John Q Adams. He has 
never had one foreign mission, one such 
sinecure of which J. Q Adams has had 
four. He asked for none. He would 
have accepted none. Ames and Cabot 
were dragged, indeed scourged into of- 
fice. The former sacrificed his life in 
the public cause, and his reward is, to 
be abused after his decease, as the pre- 
tended author of aristocratical senti- 
ments and opinions. 

The late Chief Justice Parsons could 
never be persuaded to take any part in 
public affairs during the last fifteen 
years of his life. 

Mr. John Q. Adams, who denounces 
these gentlemen as artful, intriguing 
men, held an office before he went to Col. 
/f^<r, for which he received 2410 dollars, 
3-90, which paid twice the amount of 
the expenses of his College education. 
He has since received 110,000 dollars 
from the public, and what have been his 
services? a treaty with Prussia, with 
whom our concerns have not been worth 
a year's salary. Except that single trea- 
ty, his offices have been and still are per- 
fect sinecures. 

Yet these are the men who accuse the 
most modest, retiring, and disinterested 
patriots with sinister and wicked designs. 

But if it was necessary for /}ur author 
to cite examples of men who maintained 
what they please to call aristocratic opin- 
ions, why violate the sanctity of the 
grave ? Could not the works of living 
men furnish him with sentiments as well 
suited to stir up the populace against 
virtue, and learning, and talent, as Mr. 
ylmes's writings ? 

Let us see what President Adams 
says : " Aristides, Fabricius, and Cincin- 
natus are always quoted,as if such char- 
acters were always to be found in suffi- 
cient numbers to protect liberty, and a 
cry and shewof /i^ifr/jf is set up by the 
profligate and abandoned, such as would sell 
their Fathers, their Country and their 
God, ior projity place and power.''' 
Q 



We know who have. Both, our author 
and his master have a sneer about Mr. 
Ames's *^:tx hundretJ." Let us hear old 
Mr. /Idams on that topic in his leiter to 
Samuel Adams. " The love of liberty, 
says President Adams, you say is inter- 
woven in the soul of man. So it i^ soys 
La Fontaine in that of the Wolf, and I 
doubt whether it be much stronger, or 
more generous or social in one than the 
other, untij in man it is enlightened by 
experience, reflection, education and po- 
litical institutions 'Arhich are first produ- 
ced and constantly supported by a few, 
that is the NOBILITY." 

It cannot be reproached to Strong,or 
his friends, that they were disposed to 
sell any thing for profit, place or power 

If it would not be really mean, to 
pursue this subject, and to condemn Mr. 
Adams with the populace for the hon- 
est, honourable and well intended en- 
deavours which he made to introduce 
correct ideas among the people,we could 
quote opinions which ought to raise a 
blush on the cheek of any man who 
misrepresenting Mr. Ames's views, and 
the honest design of the federal party, 
would exhibit them as the enemies of 
public liberty, of which they were the 
firmest friends. We shall not express 
the contempt we feelfor such sentiments 
as those of J. Q. Adams and our au- 
thor, as to Mr. Ames's aristocratical 
ideas. 

We shall set old Mr. Adams to making 
the reply, because he will do it with more 
s verity than we should do. 

It will be found in his leiter to S. Ad- 
amp, jn 1790 : 

" Blind, undistingnishing reproaches a- 
gainst the aristocratical part of mankind, 
a division which nature has made and we 
cannot abolish, are net pious or benevo- 
lent. They are as pernicious as they 
are false. They serve only to fomeiit 
jealousy, envy, animosity and malevo- 
lence ; They serve no ends but those of 
sopliistry,/rflttr/ and a S/jirit of parti/.'* 
Again,—" The miserable stuff they utter 
against the well-born is as despicable as 
themselves. Let us be impartial : there 
is not more family pride on one side than 
vulgar malignity and popular envy on the 
other." ^ 

AVe leave our author and Mr. J. Q, 



10 

A<lTins to setlle ihis point M'ith the oM want of respect for the Governour, 
g<'iii|e«!an. Tie gtcal luult f/ity woiiivl Legislature, and people of onr Country 
iiiiil «itli Ames would be, Uiat he adniiu /owbj which he discovers. Such semi- 
tc<i isioje thuA tivo iiJ!o the iist of tho able ments, so expressed, need only to be pre- 
aod debetvifiy. The^ iicvei- did adaiit a sented distinctly, to be repelled with in- 
greater number ibau tiiat. dignaiion. 

^ We shall not enter into any laboured 

JK'o. 4. argument to shew, that those opinions 

The opinion which we are about to are subversive of all fredom, a reproach 

examine, in this pamphlet on the Gov- on our revolution, and would tend to 

ernoui's speech, is, with the single ex- reduce the people to a state of abject 

cepjon of the author's justification of slavery. F(.r if it be true,that the com- 

the tyranny of Bonaparte, the most de- mission to the rulers at Washington, 

basing of any which has ever been deprives the people of a right to delib- 

br ached in this country. In tlie foU erate, and express their opinions on the 

lovk'ing i;pinion our author stands ^j/on^. measures of those rulers, it is equally 

Others have veniured to condemn the true that the people of this state, having 

minni'r in which the Federalists !;ave once confided to their own state rulers 

treated he govemment. He alone con- all the residue of their powers, they 

tends, that they have no right to in- cannot inquire into,or express their opin- 

qiiire or investigate, or remark on the ions of the measures of the latter, 

measuies of government. For such a We mean simply to reply to the a- 

[t an our country is too free. S ch doc- hove extraordinary and unique opinions 

trines might be received at Algiers or by facts. 

Constantinople. The bill of rights guarantees to the 

peaking of the Governou.'s speech people the right to assemble and express 

he says, their opinions fieely,on all the measures 

" Pie fastens at once on the very sub- of their rulers, 

ject with which of all others he had no The British nation have always con- 

concern, and institutes an inquiry into the sidered that they had a right to a-sera- 

conduct (f the General Government, ble in their common councils, in their 

The House" imitate this brilliant exam- shires, and even in their small boroughs, 

pie, and with a laudable docility take to express freely their sentiments about 

up the thread of his excellency's argu- the expediency, and justice of wars, or 

ment. The contagion spreads — our concerning any other important meas- 

cou.ury towns receive their messages ures of their government, 

from the Legislature, and echo them la the cases of the impeachment of 

with new mquiries into the conduct of Lord Melville, and of the removal of the 

the General Gnvernment. Now how- Duke of York, some millions o' people 

QMtr hrjnist and %uell meaning may be our did thus assemble in England and Scot- 

brethren in the country^ however sage and land, and express their opinions on these 

eloquent the members of our Legisla- less-important questions, 

ture, however venerable and patriotic ( ur Y;e: our author denies to the State 

Ch'ef Magistrate, and however compe- Legslatures of our country this right, 

tent they may be to arrange the affairs But unhappily for our writer, the pre- 

of dn/ o^/6f/- nation, it seems not ?i little cedents in our country on the side of 

singular they should think proper to ex- the true men, as he would call them, 

crcise their talents precisely on the individ- (lie friends of government, are all against 

uul subject which they with a sober de- him. The first expression of public 

liberate choice, committed to the con- opinion abo it the measures of the Na- 

duct of a diffeient body." tinnal Govern 'cnt was that of the late 

We dare not trust ourselves with the Gov . Hancock. When Congress pass- 

expressi-n of the pity which we feel for ed a law authorizing individuals to sue 

the in-olent, ironical and sarcastic tone the several states, Gov Hancock as- 

in v^'hich the above novel and degrading sembled the Legislature specially to take 

sentiments are conveyed, and the utter that encroachment into coniideralion^ H« 



11 

represented It in glowing colours. The litical questions on which the happiness 

ate Gov. Sullivan, then Attorney- and prosperity of the Countiy depend : 

General, supported the Governour by a If they may do it verbally, may they 

popular pamphlet. This State resisted not write about them as our autkor has 

the pretension, and the power was taken done ? He has discussed all the meas- 

away from the National Government, ures of the General Government. To 

It is to be remarked that in that Cfise all be sure he approves them all. But Mr. 

parties admitted the power to exist in Dexter does not. He condemns many. 

Congress. and without mercy. The Embargo and 

We a^k our author, whether a trifling the invasion of Canada are execrable in 

power, like that, which would not be ex- his eyes, 

ercised in one case in a thousand, and Well then ; perrnit a simple man who 

which v!2i^ distinctly given to the Nation- is npt among the literati, to ask, wheth- 

al Government, could be as lawfully er if one man, or ten men, can consult, 

opposed asone of a^/owi^//«/^/j(7raf/fr,like deliberate, discuss and publish their o- 

ihe embargo, resting in inference, and pinions, cannot the Legislature or the 

which Mr. Dexter decl res does not ex- Governm do the same ? Or is their se- 

ist ? an'' whether, if the States have a lection fiom among the wisest and best, 

right todi&cuss some National measures and the confidence of the people repos- 

which afFec; nothing but their prtde.lhey cd in them, a disqualification to do that 

have not an equal or greater right to which Mr. Adam.s s pupil or Mr. Dex- 

discuss those which affect their ''vital ter may lawfully do: We only wish 

interests,"those which ''aim (as the very to have this knotty point of civil rights 

honourable friend of the author, Mr. settled. Pei haps our author ma> think 

Dexter says) a fatal blow at our dear- that " Country towns and our Country 

est interests." brethren" have no right to give their 

Again— Samuel Adams, the succeed- opinions— that ihis only belongs to those 

ing Governour, always addressed the v?ho have been educated by a master. 

Legislature against the measures of the "Qui ne iD'ajamicis appris a faire une bassesse." 

National Government. Mr. Sullivan, If this be really so, it will follow, that 

Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Gerry, Mr Piumer, as three quarters of our citizens are from 

Gov Tompkins, Gov. Snyder, have Ji I- the Country, three quarters of them are 

/f^ their speeches entirely with National disfranchised and foi bidden to express 

affairs. They undertook to decide on their opinions. 

the Chesapeake aflFair, on the controver- We call this a slavish and most im- 

sy with Rose, with .fackson, on the re- pertinent doctrine, and we defy our 

peal of the Berlin decree on impress- author to defend it. 

ment and the orders in Council. The The last authority we s-hall cite oa 

several State Legislatures in the interest of this question is a book written by John 

\.\\t National government gave their o- Jay, James Madison and Alexander 

pinions on these measures. Will our Hamilton, and if I was not afraid of of- 

learned author and jurist, the pupil of fending our author's master, I should 

an unblem.ished master, say, that you say they were among the ablest men in 

may discuss provided you fl/'/tiro-yf, but America. I allude to the Federalist.^ 

if you cannor^nf/ cause to approve you This book was written to induce the 

must uot discuss P Is this his theory ? — people to accept the constitution. In 

Were those republican governours not as answer to an objection that the Govern- 

liable to error in approving, as Governour ment was too distant, and that the peo- 

Strong the friend of Washington, the pie could not know their measures, they 

framer of the Constitution and its most made the following reply, "The imped- 

zealous supporter, in condemning meas- iments to a prompt communicatioa 

ures as violations of the Constitution ? v/hKh distance may be supposed to ere- 

Further. Does our pamphleteer deny ate, will be overbalaiiced by the effects 

the right of the citizens in their little of the vigilance of the State Govern- 

literary clubs, and by their fire sides, to mcnts. 

inquire into and examine the great po- " The executive and legislaWYfi bodies 



12 



of the state will be so many sentinels 
over the perbons employed in every 
branch of the general government and 
as it will be in their power to adopt and 
pursue a regular course or system of inteU'r 
gence they can never be at a loss to know 
the behaviour of those who represent 
their constituents in the national coun- 
oils, and can TtAAWj communicate \.\\t same 
i nowleJoe to their c$nstUuents. 

" We may conclude with the fullest 
assurance that the people will through 
that channel be better informed of the con- 
duct of their National rulers tlian ihey 
now are of that of their state representa- 
tives." 

Here our author will perceive these 
j»reat men who fiamed the constitution, 
went so far as to suppose the state gov- 
ernments vvrjuld appoint agents to watch 
themeasures of the national government; 
such as we had in England before the 
war, and that they would regularly 
communicate all their knowledge lo the 
people ; not only when danger was fore- 
seen, but in a common course of proce- 
duie. Such were the hopes they held 
out to the people, and ©n these hopes 
the Coustitution was adopted" 



JVb. 5. 

One would have supposed that it 
would have satisfied any laan ofmoder- 
Ute ambilioi), that he had devoted fifty 
pages to caliimnies against G/tv. Strong, 
written in a strain ol' invective, as hitler 
as that of Junius, without his wit ; that 
he had attacked the rights of the state, 
rulers asid people, that he had defended 
the most atrocious measures under which 
his native state is now bleeding, and 
that he would not have thought it nec- 
essary precisely at the moment, when all 
the world is deserting Bonaparte, to 
have come out with an apology for him. 
At the end of a chaptei , in which he en- 
deavours to wipe away the stain of 
French injluence he attacks the Gov. 
for having pronounced an opinion that 
the conduct of the late rulers of France 
was unexampled. 

Whether this was done to shew how 
much more he knew than the Gov. or 
that he was a friend to tyrannical doct- 
liaes an'l conduct in Europe as well as 



America, or tha< he had all the qualiA- 
cations requisite to recommend him to 
the favor of administration, we know 
not. This we do know, that he could 
not have offered up incense more 
acceptable to the rulers of this happy 
nation. 

The Governor had said, that previous- 
ly to the French revolution " there was 
'' seldom an instance among civilized 
" nations, in which a Prince or govern- 
" ment engaging in a war without alles^- 
" ing reasons to justify the measure, and 
" though in some cases the motives were 
" unjust, the reasons assigned were spe- 
" ciou<f, and in pretence at least were 
" founded in necessity. But the French 
" Em])eror has thought fit to dispense 
" with these forms, and to wage war 
" without even a pretence of injury." 

We should have supposed no man in 
Europe or America not in the service 
the Emperor would have quarrelled 
with these opinions. 

The Governor is not only one of the 
most discriminating, but one of the most 
guarded and cautious writers. He does 
not say there was no instances of a like 
kind before the revolution, hut that they 
rarely occurred. He admits the motives 
of other kbus were sometimes unjust, 
but tJiat they had, so much respect for 
the opinions of the world, that ihey as- 
signed sjjecioMs reasons for their conduct. 
How does our author treat this opinion .^^ 
Directly under the quotation itself, he 
goes on to assume that the Governor had 
said that the monarchs before the revo- 
lution w ho waged war, were • always on 
the side ofjustce,^'' and then proceeds to 
blow away this airy image of his own 
creation. We quote the passage to shew 
that such a man cannot be reasoned, 
with. He not only is perpetually wrong 
in his facts, but even when he cites, he 
instantly perverts them. " We cannot 
" help observing in relation to this opin- 
" ion, says our author, that in every 
" quarrel there must be two sides, and 
" that both cannot possibly be right ; so 
" that if the aggressor* before the French 
" revolution were abvays on the side of 
^^ justice, the party attacked must have 
" been guilty of some proportionable in- 
"justice, and we really do not see that 
" this singular fact if strictly correct, 
" would have lessened the sum total of 
" political injustise. We however, ques- 



13 

" tion the correctness of the fact.'' Now representation or what is most charita- 
whalis the /«cf of which he speaks? b!e, an utter ignorance of the tacts which 
That the aggressors before the revohi- are necessary to form a political judg- 
tion were always on the side of jjistice. nient. Our autlior says, 
Did the governor sav this, or even imi- ^'Why was England, it is sometimes 
late it ? No. He strnnglv intimates the sagaciously inquired, selected as our 

enemy ? We answer because the in- 

were immediate, 



England 



country. Nay he admits that the mo 
fives were sometimes iinjvst and the jnries of _ 

reasons specious. Our author having operative and ita/, those ni 1 ranee con- 
thiis adroitly perverted the Governor's 
language, and made out such a ease as 
he should like to answer, goes on to dis- 
play his learning by proving what no- 
body denied, that many wars have been 
commenced without justifiable cause. 
Before he gets tbrougli, his disposition 



sisted in empty menace or contemptuous 
lancjuage." 

Now if this was intended for poetry, 
it is mighty well. It certainly has one 
quality which would make us believe it: 
it is a.\\ fiction. 

^v-.^.v. ..^ _ We mHSf presume, and we do in truth 

t^'^m'isrppresentation'''enf"i"relv "gets' the presume that our ;>'ithor knows nothing 
advantage of his memorv, anil he repre- of the facts. Shut up n his sludy, des- 
seats the Governor's words as direcfh/ l'isi"S t'l^ common dull men ot the Ex- 
opposite to what thev reallv were. He change, unacquainted with the osses 
savs, "without pretending to doubt the and sufferings of the merchants, he is 
Governor's authority, we cannot but probably perfectly ignorant ot the tacts, 
think it rather a specious than solirf rea- He iinds nothing about l^rench depreda- 
son why 500 Spanish soldiers should put t^^r^s in Chatt-aubriand, Kant or Kotze- 
to death as many millions of Americans. h"e and he has read the Patriot, and 
that thev were entitled to do so bv tl^e Madison's speeches, and Monroe s let- 
right of discovery." Here the Govern- ters. and he really believes, that the 
our is bv implication represented as French decrees were a dead letter. 11 
Laving said, that the reasons of former he had descended from the Parnassian 
wars were solid and not specious. It is mo'mt to the dull purlieus ot trading 
a very easv thing much more easv than men. if he had had the misfortune as 
honourable, to answer any speech in ^^e have had, but which we certainly do 
such a manner; to make the speech not whh him of oivmn^ a iew thousand 
what you please, and then reply to it. dollars insurance stock, his theory might 

But the most degrading part of this '^a^ «" yielded to his experience. 
answer to the Gov. on this topic is. that I-^^ ^e tell this gentleman, that even 
it is an indirect, and not rery indirect Armstrong admitted that the seizures 
agology for the greatest monsterthat the ""''^'r the Rambouillet decree amounted 
world"4ver produced. "We shouW en- «'o"^ *" seventeen millions ot dollars ; 
tertain, savs he. a lurking suspicion, <I"it the sum was so great, that he 
thatthe passions of men are similar in all thought that consideration ow^^ would 
ages, and that kings and subjects were prevent, as it has j.revented, the repay- 
pretty much the same sort of animals vcyeni of it. But perhaps our author 
before the French revolution as they wilh reply, will Mr. Madison, ' that 
have been since.'' This appears to be property was seized under a mere mum- 
intended as an apology for the horrors <^«"F'^ regulation, and not under the 
of the French revolution and of the haughty decrees f that was a box ou 
tyranny of Napoleon. the ear, and not an application to the 

If such an author had lived at Rome, seat of honour ; or perhaps (as he is so 
he would not have perished at Utica f""<l of Bonaparte) he may adopt his 
with Cato, but yyould like Anthony have language, that it was a reprisal f«)r seiz- 
followed at the heels of Cfesar:* Tf in "res which we might have made but rfirf 
Greece he would have praised Philip, ?2of, under our non-intercourse act. fhat 
rather than have hazarded his liberty is .vo»r true French ground, which our 
and life with Demosthenes. author's master would probably take. 

We shall now give another example But if he meets us with ihe^e replies, 
shewing a disposition to agologize for "^ have another ground on which he 
France, or a strange propensity to mis- cannot meet us : The French captures 



1^ 



AT SEA under the decrees, and even after 
their pretended repeal, were greiUer 
than those of Britain under her orders, 
though the former only sloleonl of port 
hy one or two vessels at a (inie, and the 
other liad live hundred ships al sea. 

We do not, like our auth.or, deal in 
generals ; France has captiirod at ska 
iVoni the people of Jlnssac'msptts (ilonc, 
under the Beilin iind M'iVaw decrees, and 
condenined. more than one million of 
dollars, and iive hundred thousand, siiiee 
their pretended repeal, whitdi our auilior 
has proved to his own satisfaction to he 
a real one. 

AVe would advise «t!ir literary friend 
to turn out of his study and condeseetid 
to visit the Morld before he states facts, 
and builds splemlid theories upon them. 
Let hiin walk up to the Messrs. Curtis's 
at the South End, and ask theui about 
their vessel and valuable earso burnt 
under the decrees at a period after our 
author thought them repealed. Let hitn 
ask John Parker, Esq. and others, tlie 
owners of a valuable sijip, the Catharine, 
Ockington, master, condemned by the 
Emperor iu persini under tlie decrees, 13 
months after their })retended repeal. 
JjCt him go to the North American, 
Madisonian Insuiance Office, and s fe 
the sums that have been paid for French 
captures, and then repeat if he can. tliat 
these injuries w ere only "empty nienac( s 
or contem[)tuo!is language." — It is nec- 
t'ssary sometiuies to let one's self dovn 
to the level of human nature. '1 he 
plodders, and industrious men m ho do 
not k; ow Latin and Greek, who are un- 
acquainted with Cicero, and never had 
any intercourse with Isocrate? and Aris- 
totle, can sometimes give us information 
which cannot be found even in Stehpens' 
Thesaurus, or in any Gf'rinan poems. 
For this world r.s it is. and ba<l as it is, 
it is expedieut to know s<tmf'thiag of 
affairs, as well i^s books. We know 
ItoM ever that our author despises tliese 
aiaxiius of common sense. 

.,\f>. fi. 
l! wns our in'.ciitiori at fus-t, to have 
rn crci! the fu'Ui o!' roiHifiV^rpy with oi'.r 
aM!l).-r. Slid to havp (>x:iiuiiied liis leasoii- 
Jita. i>ui on a okner iiiPDccli '■) we loucd 
«> OKiny ca-^rs of :!S-itu!ed r:)Cls, which 
hnd no rot;iid;itioii, so runny in whidi iherp 
was a ptiilio piintipi', to use our learncvl 



Ruthor's soil of phraseoiopy, that it wag 
vain to attempt to reason widi such a wri- 
ter. All correct rcasoniuj; on public 
nieai'ures rcqjiiviiif: a strict adherence to 
:icknoAvl((l«-cd huts, the moment a wiiicr 
sets evidence al d( fiance, aiul supplies it 
by round absertion, there is nu end to ar- 
guniciit. 

We bliall however in the present ar!i- 
ch , present to our readers a fair spe< i- 
n>eii o! (11! author's manner and pow<MS. 
If it shall be thought hidirr.ms it iniiet not 
be imputed to us, "^V*,- c;ive it in his own 
lanmsaire. Alter stating very prudenilv, 
and it is almost tbt only prudent l!nr>^ 
wliicli we can observe ii> las pamphlet, 
that the qi:es-tion of expatriation is loti«», 
and dijjicult at:d intricntr, runl therefore 
the auilnM does not entei into it, he says 
that \'.e fiilij ajjrees with the fjovernment 
on lliifs snhji'ct; thai is, he liPs made up 
his mind on this long and intricate and 
difficu t nuesliori. 

Ilavitig; said tliis, in order to knock 
down with a sturdy blow tbc contuma- 
cio!!s mm vhodiftYr from him on fiiis 
difTic'dt qtifsiior', he adds, " It is not 
'• huvever o'^e of the least of the many 
'' nhj-nidilies coi tinnidly brouobt forward 
"• by \\\ft vt overs of in.svrrcctioti (by whom 
" he i 'trn<ls Strong and others) that one 
'' of theii pjincipal a)£;unieM!s io favour of 
" tbrowins olTalie^iai're, is, that the sub. 
" ject has no ri«:ht to throw off allegiance 
" in any case whatever. They threaten 
" to rehii a};;n(!st the government, for fon- 
" tendino; that the citizen has in certain 
" cafics a rifiiht to rebel ; for most certain.. 
" !y the riulu to rebel includes the minor 
" ri:i!it \o wiik'lraw. and the citizen must 
'' be his own juHje in one case as well as 
•■ the otbcr. Thus they reduce ihem- 
'*sei\e- to a mosi p'^r|ilexiitg dilemma, 
'• for if they aie rislit in their dcclrinCf 
" they are wroii<: in tbeir/KflcZ/cf. because 
" on their own principles ibfy have no 
" n^]i\ of resisfnnce'w ffl»i/case wbatsoev- 
" er." 'litis is what in the schools they 
Cai! ??'/■', we {.('.prose. 

We did not dare to trust this laugha- 
l»le argument to our own representation 
of it ; infleed we could not have expres- 
sed it anv icrnis of double the extent 
that would have been so happily ludi- 
crous. It follows (hen from our learned 
auihoi's leasonino-. tbat tbe United Slates 
people iiave no right to resist oppietsioo, 



15 



without adiiitttiiio; t!i:\t every nna in the 
state .las an equal right to shoot his gwv- 
eruour ami blow ii\) the Legislature. Ii 
follows, oi' couisc, that m hen Congress le- 
belled in 177(J, aj^airist Great Britain, e v. 
ery Tory had a iis:ht to resist theni, and 
h a nglU, ail jjunisliuient ot him was an 
act ol lyiannj. This doctrine would s;o 
to piove either thai there can im no le- 
gitimate resistance to arbitrary usurpation 
or tyranny, or else that universal anarchy 
must be the iawlul consequence. 

We put other cases. Socictij claims 
the right to piuiish the highway robber, 
the burglar, the murderer — therefore it 
follows, says our author, thai every sin- 
gle man has an equal riglit to judge for 
hinaseif, and take away the life of every 
man wliood'cnds him or violates his righis. 

Because a nation or a state (sovereign 
for certain purposes) claims the right to in- 
qiiire whether its delegates have perform- 
ed their duty, or liave been guilty ol u- 
surpation, and if they find they have, to 
refuse obedience to tiie usurped power, 
it follows, says our author, that every man 
has an equal right to throw off his alle- 
giance at pleasure. Wat Tyler, and ihe 
parliament ot 1688, were eqtially justifia- 
ble. So were the Congress of 1776, and 
Daniel Shays, or the German insurgent 
Fries. 

Will any man censure us for laughing 
at such a writer, or for rehising to reason 
soberly with him ? Let those reason so- 
berly who can: we must be excused from 
such a waste of time. 

Another specimen of the high reason- 
ing powers of our auliior, will be met 
with in his arijumpnt on the embargo. 

lie contends tliat because Congress 
have the greater power of regulating For- 
eign commerce, a fortiori, they must have 
the minor one of lorbidding the coasting 
trad(!. 

We cannot do liim justice without quot- 
ing his very expressiofis. " None but 
himself can be Ids parallel.'' 

" Is it to be supposed for a moment, 
that when those interesls, so much ?norc 
important in themselves tlian the coasting 
trade between parts of the same state, 
were implicitly committed to Congress, 
that the latter was reserved as a thing 
too sacred to be placed at their disposal i' 
Is all this commerce (the India trade <i-c.) 
%i their mercy to suspend and modify at 



pleasure, and are Hingham packets and 
Eistern coasters, tlu: only things ttjat lloat 
thesea too important to be coiiimilted to 
our delegated rulers ? too momentous to 
be intrusted to any hands but our own ?" 
We shall only answer this by some i- 
ronical questions in our turn ; We may 
use a litlle irony now, and then, as well as 
ou.' author. Have Congress aright to 
regidale your ])assage over the ocean, ami 
have they not the lesser right oJ prevent- 
ing your pasting by land from state to 
slate 1' II from stale to state, is it not 
ridiculous to conteiul, that they cannot 
inler<liclyou from p:ii^sinu from your hoHse 
to your barn or oulhouses ? If then it be 
clear, that Congress can forbid your pass- 
ing from your lionse to your outhouses, is 
the right to pass from your chamber to 
your pailouror your kitchen "loo momen- 
tous to be intiusled to any hands butyour 
own ? ' Again, Congress have power to 
regidale conunerce. They may forbid 
ihe sale or e\en imporlalion of nhole car- 
goes of valuable goods. Have they not 
the meaner aiid more trivial right of for- 
uiddiiii^ the sale of butter and eggF,and tom- 
cods ? Or " are these rights too momen- 
tous lo be entrusted to asiy hands but our 
own ? ' 

VV^e are sensilile, that this is very hum- 
ble writing, but in truth, we cannot think 
any other mode of reply suited to such ar- 
guments. 

We shall close the present remarks, by 
citing one or two examples of the liberty 
our author takes with what the world 
calls fads. 

" We are not aware of any claim made 
by our Government to exempt British 
acamen from their allegiance to their 
own country. We presiuiie your Excel- 
lency has some private dorunients on this 
head, that may be the subject of a future 
message.*' 

If this is a merf equivoque, if the term 
British seamen means to exclude all that 
we are pleased to christen American, it is 
a pun, truly worthy of the arguments we 
have above cited. 

But if it is meant to deny, that our 
Government cLims to exempt from their 
allegiance, native born Englishmen, it is I 
had almost srtj.7,an unblushing untruth. — 
We are at war on this very point. Tlie 
very last statute passed by Congress on 
this sul'lcct. claims the right to protect all 



16 



naturalized seamen of Greai Biitaiii agninst 
their lawful and leige soveifci<ii). 'J'lie 
British olliceis arrested aad held as host- 
ages are lor E;)j;ii-)liriieii, taken in our ser- 
vice. nerernalurali::td ; we say this he- 
cause the President tloes not dare to say 
iheij were. 

Mr. Hay, tlie son in law of Monroe, 
has MTiiten a idausibie p.imphlet to prove 
our right to exempt British subjects from 
their alle<;;iaiice. This pamphlel was sent 
to Goi'cniour Strong- by the .'^seirelary of 
stale ; and yet we are told that it did not 
appear that our Government dai.ncd this 
right. 

Otir author lias cited a letter of Gen. 
Hamilton s at large, to prove two points; 
first, ihe existence of a plan (or a se[)ara- 
lion of the states, secondly liis disapproba- 
tion, /;oJ/if<^/ <iisupproba'iion ol it. 

We have notliins to do wiih the man- 
ner in which tiiis private corrc'spt.ndcnce 
is laid helore the public. From the hon- 
ourable feelings oi Jul;i;e S'dgwick. we 
know he could not ha;e °iven it. Fioai 
our knowledge and hi'ifi respfct for his 
chiltiren, we are coMvinced they would 
not have jriven a copy to be usrid tor such 
a pxirpose. It is an unfair and incorrect 
application of the letter. But ii is the 
inscrutable course of Providence to hrii** 
good out of evil. This letitu' howcnr 
procured, and published with whnte.cr de- 
signs, is a complete exculpation of the 
Federal party. 

In his life, Hamilton was its leader 

We were justly proud of him. He was 
the man representeil ambitious by eilher 
Adams. Yet tliie ambitious man, frowned 
oil liie idea of separation. The letlrr 
does not intimate, ijiat am) man had seri- 
ously contcmjjl dcd a separalion. It 
woul, I rather seem that Judjre Se<l2:wick 
must have written to him lor his opinion 
on that subjict. What is liis reply ? — 
" I will here express, says he, but one scn- 
tiioenf, which \?,, \.\\7i\. -^Msmemhermenl of 
our Empire will be a clear sacrifice of 
great positive advantn^es, widiout any 
counterbalancins good.' 'J'hit sentiment 
we know to have been uniformh) and still 
to be that of every able and distinguished 
fedird:siin Massachusetts, the calumnies 
of this author to the contraiy notwith- 
standing. We have something more to 
say to him on this topic. 



As we have abandoned the idea of reas- 
oning with our author, as an useless and 
idle task, we hat! proposed to conclude 
our remarks at this lime w iih some explaii* 
atioM of the manner in which we have 
taken tiie liberty to treat his essays. But 
tliere are one or two jjaragraphs out of 
an hundred most extraordinary ones, 
which deserve a little attention. It costs 
us so little labour, and as it nay do some 
good by deterring others from writing on 
subjects Uiey do not comprehend, and 
from publisliing pamphlets witliout a due 
compaiisofi of the gross inconsistencies 
whic!) they may contain, we think we 
owe it to those who may have a strong 
desire for premature fame, to exhibit one 
cr two otJier examples of the weakness of 
our author. 

The subject of the separation of the 
stat( s is one on which he loves to dwell. 
It is [uobably owing to the authority and 
weight of his patron, from whose wrilino-s 
our author has mide most liberal quota- 
tions, at least as to sentiments and opin- 
ions. 'This sui\ject is n;ituially a 'favour- 
ite one, because it awakens nopniar preju- 
dicr's, and as it involves ereat niysterv, 
and is obscured by a very dense mist, (fie 
imagiualioii has more room for display. 

" What then, s;iys our author, is the 
motive oi the opposition that now agitates 
the Legislature of Massachusetts ? AVe 
must look for it in the settled, long-medi- 
tated intention of (he lending federalists of 
this elate to separate the Union and es- 
tablish in New-F,ngland an iidenendent 
sovereignty. Ever since they found it 
imj;ossible to govern the United States, 
their dai^y and nightly labours have been 
devoted to this favourite object. Tliis 
has lieen the subject o\ secret meetings uud 
SI cret corresj,ondi'7icics. " 

Ii an honorable man had really sought 
with upright views for the motives ol the 
measures of the ferler;) lists, and the causes 
ol th.; great disgust at the course of our 
National policy, It does seem to lis, that 
if he had hafi had ar)y love for that best 
portion of the Union, the place of his na- 
tivity ; if he had possessed in due force 
those inueniious feelings which form the 
charm of youth, he would readily have 
found these motives and causes, without 



ir 



giving Way to that suspicious temper 
which appears to have produced the a- 
bove quoted remarks. He might have 
fouad them io the utter contempt expres- 
sed for tlie People of Nevv-Eugland, the 
disregard of their repeated peliiious aud 
remoostrance ; in the destruction of their 
trade, in the promotion of their most des- 
perate, despicable, abandoned men, lo of- 
fices of place aud power ; in the entire 
ruin of all the small seaport towns on the 
extended coast of Massachusetts, in the 
defenceless state in which they have been 
left ; in the sarcasms uttered against this 
portion of the country by menjbers of 
Congress. These causes would have 
■warmed any generous mind, and carried 
it far above the selfish feelings of ambilien. 

But our author prefers to attribute the 
moderated, and regulated expressions of 
discontent which have a[)pearcd in Mas 
sachusetts to the darkest aud basest mo* 
lives ; and he adds that these were the 
objects of secret meetings au.i secret cor- 
respondencies. If they were sccrtf, pray 
how has our author arrived at the knoivl' 
edge of them ? Was he privy to them, and 
has he betrayed the confidecce ? If this 
be tlie case, we challenge him and we in- 
vite him to name the place, the actors and 
the counsels proposed and adopted in such 
meetings. We defy him to do it, and if 
he does not meet the defiance, he is at 
least chargeable with rashness. Or has 
he had the audacity to make the definite 
charge as of a fact within his own knowl- 
edge without any evideace ? lie is not 
here speaking of newspaper paragraphs 
er speeches in the legislature, but he af- 
firms, as of his oivn knonkdge that such 
have been the objects of secret meetings 
and secret correspondence. 

We know it to be utterly untrue. 
The leading federalists of Massachusetts, 
if there are any men who can be so con- 
sidered, must include the men most distin- 
guished for their talents, virtues, property 
and influence. Is it credible that such 
men, many of whom have either abandon- 
ed all public employment, and have 
sought to pass their days in retirement, are 
willing to hazard the result of revolution, 
and civil commotion in order to obtain 
what ? Thankless and bootless offices in 
a reduced republic, where it is much more 



probable from its diminished siie that 
democratic principles and measures would 
obtain. 

The Hod. Mr. Quincy is the oi)Iy 
person whom our awtlior has been pleased 
to honour by name^ as among the leading 
fedeialists. Tlife author must have heard 
of, aud known the history, if he had not the 
happiness of a personal acquaintance with 
this gentleman. 

Does he believe, that a mnn who has 
devoted his life to letters, and to the best 
Interests of his country, a man upon whom 
descended such a noble inheritance in 
the fame of his father, as the great 
champion of liberty ; a man of afflu- 
ence most honourably acquired, a 
man beloved and respected by every man 
whose love aud respect would be nu ob- 
ect of desire ; a man surroundtd by such 
rising hopes in a numerous offspring, 
would put at hazard all these blessings, 
would play the part of Burr, Sliays ot 
Wat Tyler, in order to run his one line 
dredih chance of b^^ing an olllcer in a 
New England confederacy ? 

No man whose mind was not already 
excited by inordinate and incorrect 
ambition, would have dreamed of such 
a suggestion. 

Our author then either knows these 
men and their secret views, or he does 
not. If he knows them let him come 
out, and do justice to the public by de- 
nouncing them by name. If he dare not, 
let him not shoot his arrows indiscrim- 
inately among the virtuous and upright 
part of society. 

Our author, after deciding, as if he 
had been a Mansfield or a Marshall, on 
the constUut'ionality of the Embargo^ says, 

" If a measure be unconstitutional ive 
are justified in resisting it — if distressing 
only, we can only solicit relief. Since 
then they (the federalists) must know it 
is unconsliiu.'ienal" he infers they ought 
not to oppose it. 

We thank our author for this conces- 
sion, though it is opposed to Mr. Dexter. 
Our author is the first democrat who has 
admitted the right of resistance in case 
the embargo is unconstitutional. 

Wc stop here aad ask, if the Federal 
party really believe, universally, that the 
embargo i% net only unconstitutional, 



18 

but the worst breach of the constitution conduct of the Romans : Such, to quote 
ever commiited or which could be com- an example much more seducing to our ad- 
mined, how are they to act ? How are versanes, is the noble conduct of mod- 
they to be governed, by their own opin- ern Britons." A sneer on British influ- 
ioiis, honestly formed, or by that of o'lr ence among his fricsdsand connections. 
author ? U ihey lock to the late Chief Now when such a man, fresh from his 
Justice Parsons, they find him decidedly books states a fact, it would natiirally ap- 
of opinion that the first embargo was a pal an unlearned reviewer like our- 
gross and f.igrant violation oi i\it constilU' selves. But so far from this being a 
tion. If ihey turn their eyes downwards most trite maxim, we doubt whether it can 
upon Mr. Dexter, they fiid him as clear- be found in any but the basest and most 
\y and strongly of the same opinion. — slavish writers. It was not the conduct 
Every lawyer in the state, that we have of the Ramans; and mi/f^ less is it the 
converied with, except the few demo- conduct of the modern Britons. In a war 
cratic ones, are of the same opinion. which a whole nation think just, they are 

If men then must act according to of course agreed, and in /^a< war united. 
tlie light which it has pleased God to That is the case in Britain as to our 
give them, and if exercising a conscicn- war. They are on the defensive, the 
tious discretion, they still entertain an whole nation (clamorous as the opposi- 
opinion opposite to that of our learned tion was before) are of opinion against 
author, will he not admit that they have us. But neither in the revolutionary A- 
a light to rcibt according to his own merican war, nor in the French war, of 
conces ion ? 1793, were they united. Theyopposed 

To what praise ihen, instead of cen- it more bitterly than ive do ours ; they 
sure, are these men entitled, who having, opposed the loans; they opposed the 
according to our author, a right to re- raising armies, they opposed the ways 
bisc, have moderated their passions, re- and means. They forced the King to 
strained their feelings, and instead of peace. 

proceeding to resistance have simply ut- To be a little more precise.we v^ould 
teicu .heir objections in the style of re- refer our author to the debates in the 
monstrance ai'.d complaint ? British Parliament in Dec. 1718, after 

Reco.iect that Mr. De.uer's opinions war was declared with Spain. Mr Ship- 
are ours on this subject ; and of Mr Dex- pen Heclaied he did not see the necesii- 
ter our author says, " he is a man in ty of involving the «a//o« t« war,and op- 
vvhom fedeiali ts can place implicit ccnji posed the addresses to the King. Hor- 
Jence. This ihey could not do unless ace Walpole also attacked the war, and 
they could -put implicit confidence in his it is added by the historian,that thib war 
opinions. We wish our author, in the wsis not a favorite of tht people. In the 
vial of wra h, which he will douWtless course of that same Parliament, Earl 
pour out on oui unlettered heads would Strafford declared the \yar had beenun- 
be gracious enmi^uk to answer ih\s par- dertaken without necessity or just prov- 
tiiuhr point, bomeiUrat distinctly ij be can, •cation ; and even in the war of 1738, 
vi/. : Ifin folluwing Mr. Dexter'sopin- into which Sir Robert Walpole was 
ions iwplicitl]', which he advises us to do, forced by the people, the Earl of Ches- 
vve find the embargo unconstitutional, terfield, Mr. Pitt and others, often at- 
we may not resist, and li fortiori scold ? tacked the war itself, and finally drove 
^ . As we l}ave only room on our paper the minister who declared the war,.rom 
to notice one more unhappy mistake of office. This was equivalent to our turn- 
out author, we shuil advert to his re- ing the President out for the same cause, 
ma'ks on the duty of a loyal people to As to the Romans, about whom oar au- 
be silent an'i united in 0// wi<r/ in which thor has advanced a round asseition, 
their country may be engaged. we have not their debates, but we know 

" No political maxim is more trite, there were great heats in the Senate 
than that f.weign hostilities should be concerning the expediency of prosecut- 
the signal for internal parties to cease ing existing wars. We will quote one 
theli contentions. Such was the noble strong case. When Crassus, m the 



19 



Parthian war, defiled with his legions 
through the gates of Rome, the war was 
so unpopular, that Atteius the Augurs, 
attended in his sacred habiliments, and 
denounced in the name of the God, a 
cursty on the tuar and on the arms of the 
legions. Several wi iters say that this 
denunciation produced a dreadful ef 
feet on the spirits of the cogamon sol- 
diers. There is no other remedy for an 
abused and injured peop'e when plung- 
ed into wars by corrupt, wicked ambi- 
tious ministers, than to oppose its pro- 
gress, to withhold their aid, to pray to 
heaven, that their projects may be de- 
feated, and that they may be forced to 
make peace. Would our wicked ad- 
ministration, if flushed with unjust con- 
quests, be more inclined to peace ? cer- 
tainly not ; and yet on them, and on them 
alone depends the question whether any 
peace shall be made. If they demand 
only what a just God has given us, and 
do not desire to infringe the rights of 
others, they may have peace at any hour. 
They never would have had war. 

JVo. 8. 

There is a characteristic bitterness and 
^MspositioD to detraction which is observ- 
able throughout this pamphlet. In giv- 
iDo; an history of the repeal ©f the orders 
in council, he devotes four pages to a di- 
gression, on purpose to shew us that lie 
spent several weeks in England ; that he 
has weighed all the British ministry in 
the hollow of his hand and found them de- 
ficient, that the Piiace Regent had an a- 
dulterous connection with the Marchio- 
ness of Hertford ; that our aiH^hor feels 
for the poor Catliolic " clanking his 
chains," that he thinks monarch- 
ical governments a folly and a curse, but 
pricipally toutter a sneering expression 
at Goveroour Strong, whicl' l»as been re- 
peated onlu once a week by BiiiDs anfl 
Duane and the Patriot, viz. that the 
Prince Regent was first magistrate of the 
" bulwark of our Religion." So foreign 
was it to his subject, that when he had 
finished he was compelled to say " We 
come now to the point which connects (his 
narrative with the repeal of tlie orders in 
Council." Let any body who has curi- 
osity read this discussion about the orders 
in ceuncil and he will see that from the 



20th to 25th page, all might have been 
comprised ill ttiis sin'ple tlioiiglil '• Tlie 
death of the Prime ftJiuister, and llie di - 
ficulties in forming a new minislry delaj - 
ed the decision on the orders in Council.' 
All the rest is irrtlevant, disconnecied, 
and aflbrds a proot of a strong |ai>|)t nsiiy 
to backbiting and reproa«:h. Ouiolijii- 
tions to this mode ot conduct towards ilie 
Governments ol foreign nations, are, that 
it is not courlpous, or catlulic or gtnh- 
mauly ; our being at war with Bril:*iu 
does not render it more justifiable ; let it 
be true or not tjiat (he Piince Regf iil is 
immoral, it is a subject wiUi uhith we 
have nothing to do : To assail the M:ii- 
chioness of iieiiford by nanie, is a proof 
tliat learning does "oi always make nieu 
gallant or ddicate : We agree w'nh Yol- 
taire,that it is not probable Princes call in 
witnesses to their amotfrs,nt\<\ tiiongh our 
author makes the round assertion that ev. 
ery indmdiial in London knew it was a 
matter ol notoriety, yet we feel assured 
he never had tliis fact from any body, 
that had ever sefu the Prince or Mar- 
chioness nearer than through an opera 
glass at Dniry-laiie. What a flame our 
author would be in if Mr. Malihus oi Mr. 
Stephen or any of the British schol- 
ars should on a question, which had noth 
ing t) do with it, adopt the suggestions of 
the scandalous Chronicle r f our capital, 
should assail the virtue of Mrs. lVla<lison, 
and attribute the Freiich war to an in- 
trigue with Mr. Serrurier! ! Ptiil more 
angry would he be il such a writer should 
interfere Avith cur local disputes as he 
does with the Catholic question. Anoth- 
er remark we would make, and that is, 
that for a young man, resident so short a 
time in England, it does serm to be a lit- 
tle prcsumptLsous and unguarded and weak 
to speak of Mr. Perceval as being res- 
pectable* merely because he was among 
pygmies, and as inleiiour to the lawyers 
of Massachusetts. A man who had any 
desire to preserve a character for sound 
judgment would not have repeated the 
siil^ tales of opposition as facts. What- 
ever men may say cf the talents ot Liv- 
erpool, Castlereagh and Perceval, the 
world will recollect, that they managed 
the affairs of the greatest nation in Eu- 
rope, in such a manner, that even their 
personal enemies, men almost as learned 
and great as our author, the Lords Graa^ 



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